Because The Book Said So

We started a tradition last year that we think will become a part of our yearly family Christmastime.

The night we are going to decorate the tree, we all get to open a present with our new Christmas pajamas.
We start a fire in the fireplace, blast the carols, and sip hot chocolate a little past our bedtimes.

This year, our munchkin was able to be quite independent in the placement of her ornaments. Hence the reason that the bottom of our tree is pretty stacked…especially with anything that looked pink or purple.

[This is so that everyone (including myself) realizes that no, it’s not ALL perfect. There is mess that goes along with this process…in EVERYone’s house…but I’ll still make it smaller.]

A whole world of possibilities opened up when she realized that we could also take the decorating WAY UP HIGH.

So we did that for a while, too.

At the end, we put the star on the top and read our Christmas story book. We talked about the reason we put a star on top: to remind us how the wise men followed it to find Baby (Child) Jesus.

We finished our story, cleaned up our mess (sort of), and oohed over the Christmas tree one last time.

I looked at her and asked why we put a star on the top of our tree.

She pondered for a second–really thinking, you could tell.
“Ummm….because the book said so.”

Well…yes. Because The Book said so.

I know that someday she will need to hash things out for herself.
If she is going to have her own relationship with the Lord, she will have to dig much deeper into Scripture and “work out her own salvation”.
She will have to face heartache and ask her own why’s.

But with all the learning and growing and digging and pursuing, even with all of yourself…
there are still times that you just don’t know why.
Things won’t make sense and you will be tempted to become bitter or cynical or even “just” complacent.

But I hope in those times, she maintains this child-like faith in The Book.
And I hope that I can relearn some of it.
Maybe I don’t know why.
Maybe I’m worried about “what’s next” or “how this could happen”.

And sometimes, all I can know is that He is with me…

Simply Because The Book said so.

Comments ( 6 )

Mary Beth McElroy

04 Dec 2013

Stephanie… so beautifully and inspired writing and reading. I Believe… sometimes indeed just because The Book, The Word tells me so!